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Tech veterans set up $100M fund to turn India’s top startups into unicorns
Two Indian technology veterans have set up a new fund that they hope will help the county churn out world-class, billion-dollar startups. Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal have come together to launch the Fundamentum Partnership. Initially a $100 million fund — half of which is committed already — the duo told TechCrunch they aim to help cover the funding gap for India’s… Read More
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Gaming firm Razer seeks to raise over $600M in Hong Kong IPO
Gaming firm Razer has filed to go public through an IPO in Hong Kong as it looks to raise more than $600 million to go after growth opportunities. The U.S.-based company, which traces its origins back to Singapore, filed initial paperwork on Friday. Certain details — such as how much Razer is looking to raise, its valuation and the timing of the IPO — are not disclosed in the… Read More
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Chat app Kakao raises $437M for its Korean ride-hailing service
Korea’s Kakao, the country’s top mobile messenger company with some 50 million monthly users, has continued to diversify its business with a move to spin-out the unit managing its mobility services, which include a ride-hailing app that is beating Uber in Korea. The firm announced that ‘Kakao Mobility’ has now become an independent entity in a move that sees U.S. Read More
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Alibaba ups its stake in Southeast Asia’s Lazada with $1 billion investment
Alibaba is doubling down on Southeast Asia after it announced a deal to pay close to $1 billion to raise its stake in e-commerce firm Lazada from 51 percent to 83 percent. The Chinese firm made an initial $1 billion investment in April 2016 at a valuation of $1.5 billion — this second deal raises that valuation to $3.15 billion, Lazada disclosed. The deal sees Alibaba buy shares… Read More
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Crunch Network
There’s a war brewing in Japan, and the banks should pay attention
People often use the term “time machine model” in Japan. It refers to the lag with Silicon Valley when it comes to startups and innovation. When a time machine model gains momentum locally, usually it means war. The most notable recent example of this is the war of the news apps. Now there is a similar war brewing in Japan; this time it is for mobile P2P payments. Read More
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Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro announces $100M startup fund
Security firm Trend Micro is the latest corporate to jump into the startup investment world after it unveiled a $100 million corporate fund today. It is predominantly looking at opportunities in the internet-of-things (IoT) space, but the exact scope of how it will operate is not clear. The company is headquartered in Japan and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where its current value… Read More
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Sony to demo 3D face biometric running on an Xperia smartphone
If smartphone hardware rumors are on the money, and they are usually at least in the ballpark (with the exception of transparent, bendable phones; apparently forever doomed to be mocked up in Photoshop) — then a 3D depth sensor is coming to the front-facing camera of a handset near you in the not too distant future. Read More
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LinkedIn’s head of China is leaving the company
LinkedIn’s head of China, a key figure in the launch of its business in the country in 2014, is leaving the company, LinkedIn has confirmed. Derek Shen, LinkedIn President of China who led the company’s controversial entry into China, will leave at the end of this month, according to a spokesperson. There’s no immediate replacement, but head of international engineering… Read More
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Jeff Bezos says Amazon will ‘keep investing’ in India as rivals raise new war chests
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has pledged to continue to invest in India as it bids to keep pace with rivals in the country that have landed large investments from big name backers. SoftBank and Alibaba have pumped close to $2 billion into Paytm lately while India’s original online retailer, Flipkart, won the backing of prestigious trio Microsoft, eBay and China’s Tencent via a recent… Read More
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Recapping the first TechCrunch China event in Shenzhen
Last week we hosted our first TechCrunch China event in Shenzhen, the hardware capital of the world. We were delighted to welcome thousands of attendees to the event, which included a host of top tech industry names, exciting up-and-coming startups, investors, students, hackers and much, much more. For those of you who didn’t make it, here’s a recap of what went down at the… Read More
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Razer makes virtual currency push with $20M investment in Asian payment firm
Razer has invested close to $20 million into Malaysia-based online payment firm MOL Global as part of a push to establish its virtual currency for gamers in Asia. The deal sees Razer subsidiary ZV-Midas buy equity from existing backers MOL Investment and Hotel Resort Enterprise in a deal that values the MOL Global business at around the $100 million mark. Gaming company Razer, which made… Read More
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Crunch Report | Apple Rolls Out Early Version Of Its Safe Driving Feature
Today’s Stories Do Not Disturb While Driving feature rolls out in Apple’s newest iOS 11 beta Sean Parker has left Spotify’s board; Padmasree Warrior, Thomas Staggs join in lead up to IPO Trump might kill next month’s new startup visa before it takes effect Facebook is testing a feature to prevent profile pictures being abused by other users Tantan, China’s… Read More
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JD.com invests $397M into luxury marketplace Farfetch as part of a new strategic partnership
JD.com, China’s second-largest e-commerce company after Alibaba, is pumping $397 million into Farfetch, a marketplace for luxury brands, as part of a new strategic partnership. JD.com founder and CEO Richard Liu will take a seat on Farfetch’s board as part of the deal, which makes JD.com one of its largest shareholders. Read More
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Tantan, China’s top dating app, raises $70M for monetization push and overseas expansion
Chinese startup Tantan, which is probably most comparable to Tinder, has raised $70 million in new capital as it looks to monetize its business for the first time and explore overseas expansion options. Three-year-old Tantan claims 60 million ‘validated’ users — i.e. not fake accounts — of which six million are active on a daily basis. Of those active users, 75 percent… Read More
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Mercari hires John Lagerling from Facebook’s management team to guide its U.S. strategy
When Mercari became Japan’s first startup unicorn with a $75 million round last year, the funding was earmarked to fuel its goal of becoming the top secondhand marketplace app in the U.S. Now Mercari is doubling down on its efforts to succeed where no other Asian e-commerce company has. Today it launched a refreshed version of its American app and announced the hiring of John Lagerling… Read More
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